How to make beef bone broth taste amazing with healing spices.

It’s easy to nurture your gut lining with homemade beef bone broth.

It’s also easy to make beef bone broth a habit. With a slow cooker the ingredients simply brew and broth happens.

I regard a slow cooker as good company. My house feels welcoming and alive, the smell of home cooking is love to me. At times I feel a bit witchy, for my brew is my excelsior. I leave mine on for 24 – 30 hours but you can leave it even longer.

Ever since I discovered that I needed broth to help repopulate my good bacteria I’ve been making a batch every week and drinking it daily. Beef marrow bones with this combination of healing spices is my ultimate favourite. It kind of reminds me of Vietnamese Beef Pho. This beef bone broth is so lovely you can sip it straight-up from a mug. Mix it up with an equally awesome chicken broth recipe.

All about the healing spices…

STAR ANISEStar anise is great for your digestion. For starters, it can help prevent fermentation in the bowel and stomach that can cause painful bloating, excessive gas, cramps and indigestion. It’s an antispasmodic, so it’s a natural muscle relaxant which can calm both constipation and chronic diarrhoea. A study shows that star anise can inhibit the growth of H. Pylori, a pathogenic bacteria that can cause serious gut issues. Source. Star anise is also both anti-fungal and an antioxidant. But honestly, if it didn’t do all this, I’d still put it in there as it tastes amazing and sweetens your broth.

GINGERMy favourite spice of all, ginger has a long and wonderful list of benefits but I’m just here to praise those related to gut health. Ginger is a digestive aid that can reduce IBS symptoms such as bloating and gas, it’s also a stomach calmative, so can help relieve nausea. Ginger may also inhibit H. Pylori stomach infections and is also a broad spectrum anti-inflammatory so a generous helping in your broth is simply a no brainier.

CINNAMONCinnamon is a seriously powerful spice for your immune system. It’s a natural anti-microbial, anti-biotic, anti-fungal and anti-viral, illness fighting wonder spice. For your troubled gut, cinnamon is an anti-inflammatory and a calming digestive aid. It can also treat diarrhoea and tame gas and bloating.

TURMERICTurmeric is the most powerful herb on the planet at fighting and potentially reversing disease. There are thousands of studies making this claim, need I say more? Turmeric has the renowned healing compound curcumin, which is a potent anti-inflammatory that will treat all kinds of digestive issues.

GARLIC & ONIONGarlic and onions are prebiotics, food for healthy gut bacteria. It is important to note though, not everyone should eat them. Garlic and onion are high in fructans, a type of carbohydrate that are tricky to tolerate for some people when the gut lining is significantly damaged. Monitor your healing and use what your body can handle. I stopped eating garlic for several years but now I can handle it as long as it is cooked.

Make calcium rich broth

A few teaspoons of apple cider vinegar helps to draw the calcium out of the bones. Use live ACV, that contains the ‘mother’. For maximum effect, soak the bones for an hour before heating. ACV has live bacteria and heat will kill it off before it does it’s job.

I recommend broth be made from organic ingredients.

1 1/2 kg of organic beef bones. (cut in pieces to expose the marrow)

1 large thumb of fresh ginger roughly sliced. (skin on is fine)

3 cm of fresh turmeric

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 sticks of cinnamon

4 star anise

1 onion (optional)

2 carrots roughly chopped

A few stalks of celery roughly chopped

2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar.

Slurp of olive oil

2 teaspoons of sea salt

A generous grind of freshly cracked black pepper

Water

How to make beef bone broth

Preheat your oven to super hot. Around 200 degrees Celcius.

Place the beef bones on an oven tray. Throw on the garlic, onion and whole spices. Drizzle with olive all, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes to brown the bones and roast the spices.

Pop everything from the tray into your slow cooker. Add the veggies and apple cider vinegar and fill the pot up with water and let sit for a good hour.

After an hour of cool soaking, switch the cooker on low and leave it to cook nice and slow.

I cook mine for 24 – 30 hours, however, you may like to simmer it for double that time. If you are sensitive to histamines, cook for 6 hours and monitor your symptoms. There are no hard and fast rules. It’s nutritious and healing at all ends of the spectrum.

When it’s done, simply scoop out all the bits and pour the broth into large jars.

Leave the fat in because when it cools on top it seals the broth from the air and keeps it fresh for weeks in the fridge. Recently, I read a post claiming that broth in a glass jar would keep fresh for as long as 6 months with 2 cm of fat sealing it from the air. I haven’t tested this myself.

The fat is easier to remove once solid anyway. I score it with a knife and pop it out in 2 halves.

Of course, the stock can be frozen as well. Small tubs of frozen stock are super handy for sauces and stir-frys.

No Waste

Now I don’t like to waste anything and that even goes for the second-hand soupy veggies that are left behind. My hound loves this meat infused, veggy slop – although she’s clearly not so keen on the ginger. It doesn’t matter how dolefully she looks at me with her sad Beagle eyes, I’ll never give her the cooked beef bones.

Enjoy Beef Bone Broth for at least 1 week. If you drink it every day that is?

Bake in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes to brown the bones and roast the spices.

Pop everything from the tray into your slow cooker.

Pop everything from the tray into your slow cooker. Add the veggies and apple cider vinegar and fill the pot up with water and let sit for a good hour.

After an hour of cool soaking, switch the cooker on low and leave it to cook nice and slow.

I cook mine for 24 - 30 hours, however, you may like to simmer it for double that time. If you are sensitive to histamines, cook for 6 hours and monitor your symptoms. There are no hard and fast rules. It's nutritious and healing at all ends of the spectrum.

When it's done, simply scoop out all the bits and pour the liquid into large jars.

I leave the fat in because when it cools on top it seals the broth from the air and keeps it fresh for weeks in the fridge.

Of course the stock can be frozen as well. Small tubs of frozen stock are super handy for sauces and stir-frys.

Interesting you ask. I’m not all that happy with it. It’s a Breville. I wrote that article before I had used it. I have used it many times since but I’m not as happy with it as I should be given the price.
PROS – it has a wide base so good for roasting. I love that I can brown onion and meat. Very handy.
CONS –
It doesn’t have a ceramic bowl.
The temperature is far too hot, even on the low setting. It boils. My ceramic slow cooker doesn’t boil on the slow setting. I was very disappointed with this!!
The lid is very light weight (not glass) so when the contents boils it bubbles up and splatters out fat. I need to be careful not to over fill it.http://www.breville.com.au/ikontm-slow-cooker-with-easyseartm-pan.html

If you require lower histamines, could this be done for only a few hours? Do you not leave the ACV to soak the bones for an hour first? I’ve heard that’s more effective at bringing out the nutrients from the marrow, because the heat will affect the ACV.

Hi Melissa,
Thanks for your great questions. Yes, if you have histamine sensitivity you can definitely boil the stock for less time. I do plan to write about histamines and broth one day soon.

The day before your question I read something for the first time about soaking bones before hand in ACV. until then I had never known this secret tip. Unfortunately, I can’t recall where I read it?? It is very likely true. If you find more on this I’d be interested to have a read.

Adding to this though, my slow cooker take several hours (probably 2) to reach it’s maximum heat so I would expect that the ACV had time to do it’s magic on the bones. What do you think?

Hi again Melissa, your question prompted me to ask an expert. I contacted the owner/director of ‘Broth of Life’ in Sydney. They recommend soaking for an hour before hand. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will add this important detail to my blog post. cheers

Hi Barb!
I’ve just finished making my first batch of beef bone broth. Not as onerous as I thought it would be!
I notice three distinct layers have formed – the top seems to be oil, the bottom is the broth and I am wondering what the middle one is (looks like gelatinous bubbles)?

Fantastic, congratulations. I agree it isn’t hard. Soon enough you’ll be doing it every week!!!
I’m not sure what the middle layer is? Was it chilled or still warm? Whatever it is, (gelatinous bubbles sounds good) I wouldn’t be worried or concerned you have done something wrong.
Mine generally only has distinctly 2 layers after it has settled and chilled. Although sometimes the bottom has approx 1 cm of residue – usually from all the herbs and spices I add in – they tend to sink to the bottom and make it cloudy.

Hi Barb
Once it was chilled, there were only two (plus a bit of residue on the bottom, as you say).
It is such a delicious broth. The ones I have bought in the store have had next to no flavour (more like a weak consume). Thanks for sharing!
Barbara

Thank you for your wonderful blog. I’m about to embark on my gut healing journey. I have some bone broth questions-
Do you leave your slow cooker on overnight and cook the 24-30 hours without break- or do you switch it off overnight and if so is it ok to just leave it sitting there until you wake up and switch it back on?
Once it’s done and in jars in the fridge, what do you do when ready to consume it, do you re heat it in a saucepan and just drink it straight?

Hi Hayden, great questions. I always leave my slow cooker on overnight. I am very comfortable with doing so and feel it is safe.

I remove the set fat on top of the jars and reheat the amount of broth I require in a saucepan or add it to meal (like stir-fries etc for flavour). I never consume broth cold. I don’t find it very nice cold, nor do I personally enjoy the jelly texture (unless it’s a sweet gummy) I hope this helps. Have a great day